Broody hen is MEAN!

[Sylviaanne]

First off: does a hen continue to lay eggs when she turns broody?
She wasn't staying on the nest so I was taking eggs out, leaving one per day so she would continue to lay there. I don't know how many eggs she might have, I would suppose from the one I left there and the last one she might have laid before starting to sit, she might only have 2.

Second: I put some food and water down beside her today thinking that if it were close she might eat and drink. Instead, she pecked me! I offered her the food and she pecked at it but apparently she meant to get me. I held the dish there and she reached over it to bite me.

I'm not going to reach under her to count and I'm not going to try to put more eggs under her, although I'd love to. Sylvia

 

[Michael OShay]

A broody hen will stop laying when she feels she has enough eggs under her. Also, it is common for broody hens to become aggressive in protecting their nests.

 

[Sylviaanne]

Maybe she just got tired of the eggs disappearing and decided to sit on what was left.

I had one go broody, not this one, and she pecked at us but didn't bite. She's ornery. I guess she really wants some chicks. I appreciate that she wants chicks but I wish she had put her nest in the henhouse so they would all be safer. Thanks, Sylvia